Navonim - The Ramblings of Garnel Ironheart

Monday, 23 September 2013

When Garnel put up his post entitled The Necessary Synthesis (at http://www.garnelironheart.blogspot.ca/2013/06/the-necessary-synthesis.html), I mentioned to him that while I
thought there was value in his overall objective, I also felt that there was a critical
problem in his approach. While his argument is most true that Modern Orthodoxy
needs a fundamental Torah construct that can encompass the differing outlooks
found within its purview, I felt that the attempt at synthesis which he offered
was not going to be the method of achieving this objective. What is really
necessary is a further recognition of the basic principle that distinguished the
Rav and Rav Kuk from others – and the need to articulate and express this
principle as the true basis of this perspective in Torah. It is this basic
principle that both these great Sages uniquely shared which distinguished them –
albeit the vast differences that would still emerge from their thoughts – and it
is this that must be articulated and celebrated as the essence of this derech
in Torah. Garnel graciously accepted.my offer to write a piece on this thought.

On the surface, the answer would seem to be obvious. Both of these
individuals had a sensitivity for collective Israel beyond its halachic
boundaries. Stated in a different manner, both the Rav and Rav Kuk related to
Jewish communal entities even as these entities may not have reflected an
allegiance to Torah. This was clearly a shared uniqueness that they both had. To
clarify, there is no doubt that many, if not the vast majority of, gedolim,
throughout the centuries, have advocated for the caring of all members of Klal
Yisrael even as these individuals may not observe the directives of Torah.
The uniqueness of the Rav and Rav Kuk, however, was that, while they also
obviously shared this love of all Jews, they were unique in their willingness
to relate to non-Halachic communal entities. Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch
was an adamant lover of all Jews – he was the essential pioneer of all kiruv
– but he would have nothing to do with Jewish communal entities that operated
outside the boundaries of Halacha. Similarly, the modern Chabad movement
is constantly noted for its love of every single Jew regardless of his/her
level of observance – yet they also will have nothing to do with structured
Jewish entities that function outside of Torah. So we have an obvious point of
connected uniqueness between Rav Kuk and the Rav – but what effect does this
have on our quest? Is this shared uniqueness enough upon which to develop and
promote a different derech in Torah? I would say the real question is:
why? Why did the Rav and Rav Kuk develop this position? It is the motivation
that led the Rav and Rav Kuk to take such a stand that I believe is the
uniqueness that needs to be articulated as the vary basis of this derech
in Torah.

It is my belief that the distinguishing mark of these two gedolim
was their perception of the dynamic nature of life and Torah. What I believe
they both acknowledged – and it marked their complete approach to Torah – was a
recognition that humanity – and, as such, the Jewish People – are constantly in
a dynamic flux. By extension, this would also mean that Torah, in its
relationship to the Jewish People, is also in a resultant constant dynamic
movement. This is all, of course, within the parameters of Halacha – in fact,
these very parameters of Torah actually further add to the dynamic nature of
this process. Albeit that they responded to this inherent dynamic nature of
life differently, this is what I believe marked the Rav and Rav Kuk as unique.
They both dealt with life -- in itself and in its relationship with Torah -- in
movement.

This dynamic perception is actually what is at the basis of chiddush
and intellectual aspirations. It is the question that breeds further
understanding. It is the challenge that demands new perspectives. On a certain
level, in that chiddush is inherent to Torah, what I am proposing as
unique to the Rav and Rav Kuk actually must be inherent in any thinker within
Orthodox thought. Part of the very nature of Torah study is that we always find
something new. Rav Kuk and the Rav, however, expanded this concept. In seeing
life in dynamic flux, they inherently recognized that Torah must, in parallel
symbiosis, also be in such dynamic flux. And then, from this recognition that
Torah must also demand of us to see things anew, they looked again at life
anew. This dynamism permeated their entire Torah thought.

Let’s look at Rav Kuk’s view of the early settlers in Israel. Here
were individuals not generally following halachic practices who were
devoting themselves, absolutely selflessly, to building up the Land of Israel.
How can one view, from a Torah perspective, such contradictory behaviour? The
uniqueness of Rav Kuk was that he saw this question.

Let us look at the Rav’s break with Agudah. Klal Yisrael
went through the Holocaust and now was re-establishing itself in Eretz
Yisrael. Something was happening albeit not in any manner that was
previously predicted (which, I should mention, Rambam states, is all
speculation anyways). How, though, is one to view what is happening – such
dynamic movement in life -- and understand it from a Torah perspective? The
uniqueness of the Rav, again, was that he saw this question.

I heard that it was once said about Rav Kuk that when he was asked
what he thought about Darwin, he said that he appreciated Darwin’s works for it
further explained Ma’aseh Bereishit. Not a challenge but seeing anew. It
is said in the name of the Vilna Gaon that for every measure of secular
knowledge that one is missing, a person is missing manifold measures of Torah
knowledge. Secular knowledge is constantly expanding. Life is essentially, as
such, dynamic. Torah, in the true process of Torah study and not with
apologetics or compromise, is to parallel this process of new insight as we
relate to the body of Divine Wisdom. The Rav and Rav
Kuk’s conclusions were vastly different in the process. That is Eilu v’Eilu
Divrei Elokim Chayim. Both, however, shared this vision of the process – of
how we are to interact with Torah. It is this dynamic nature of this
interaction that should really be marking Modern Orthodoxy.

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Mighty Garnel Ironheart

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I'm a mythical hero from the "The Unending War" trilogy who was granted great power in the battle against the Undead Overlord only to misuse it and wind up defeated. The lesson: The battle is not always to the mighty, nor the race to the swift, but that's the way to bet.

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